Archive for the Art Category

« Older Entries

Naomh Pádraig – Séamus Murphy

Posted in Art, Maynooth with tags , , , on March 23, 2026 by telescoper

I’ve walked past this imposing head of St Patrick countless times since I arrived in Maynooth, seven and a half years ago, but it was only last week that I found out a bit about it.

The statue is called Naomh Patrick (Saint Patrick) and it was created by Irish sculptor Séamus Murphy. It is on public view in St Patrick’s House, Maynooth, just inside the main entrance. It is made of polished limestone and was first unveiled in 1949. Here is an old newspaper article in which the photograph on the right shows the artist beside the sculpture…

(The picture on the left seems to show the artist, on the far left, dozing off during a speech…)

3 Comments »

Horizon, Zenith and Atmosphere – Paul Klee

Posted in Art with tags , , , on March 11, 2026 by telescoper

Horizont, Gipfelpunkt und Atmosphäre by Paul Klee (1925, watercolor and graphite on paper, 37.1 x 27 cm, Guggenheim, New York)

Leave a comment »

Snowdrops – Lillias Mitchell

Posted in Art with tags , on February 11, 2026 by telescoper

Snowdrops by Lillias Mitchell (1929, watercolour on paper, 29 x 34 cm, National Gallery of Ireland); painted when the artist, who lived from 1915 to 2000, was 14 years old.

Leave a comment »

Cosmic Spring I – František Kupka

Posted in Art with tags , , , on February 3, 2026 by telescoper

Cosmis Spring I (Cosmic Spring I)  by František Kupka (1913/4, oil on canvas, 115 x 125 cm, National Gallery of Prague).

Adapted from the Gallery catalogue:

František Kupka (1871-1957) wrote in his book Tvoření v umění výtvarném (Creation in Visual Art), that he did not seek to copy nature but sought inspiration in varied shapes of nature such as ice crystals, flower buds, freezing vapour, clouds, airflow, and falling stars. Kupka was fascinated by shape analogies which he found in various levels of microstructures and macrostructures – from microphotographs of cells to astronomical photographs of planets.

(Posted because, of course, 1st February was the first day of Spring…)

3 Comments »

The Exam Room – Cyril E. Power

Posted in Art with tags , , , , on January 15, 2026 by telescoper

The Exam Room by Cyril E. Power (c. 1934, linocut, 26.6 x 38.2 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; not on display)

Leave a comment »

December 31st – Richard Hoffman

Posted in Art, Poetry with tags , , , , , , on December 31, 2025 by telescoper 
All my undone actions wander
naked across the calendar,
 
a band of skinny hunter-gatherers,
blown snow scattered here and there,
 
stumbling toward a future
folded in the New Year I secure
 
with a pushpin: January’s picture
a painting from the 17th century,
 
a still life: Skull and mirror,
spilled coin purse and a flower.

by Richard Hofmann (b. 1949) from his collection Emblem.

I don’t know precisely which picture the poet is referring to for January in his calendar, nor which artist, but it it is undoubtedly an example of a Vanitas or Memento Mori, a genre symbolizing the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death, and thus the vanity of ambition and all worldly desires. The paintings involved still life imagery of items suggessting the transitory nature of life.

A couple of examples are here:

Between them you find all the elements mentioned in the poem: the skull represents death, the flowers impermanence, the coins personal wealth and the other items worldly knowledge and pleasure. There’s an interesting WordPress blog about the symbolism this genre here:

Inspiration – Vanitas Painting and the Symbolism of Objects

P.S. My own calendar has pictures of tractors in it.

Leave a comment »

Alegoría del Invierno – Remedios Varo

Posted in Art with tags , , , , , on December 29, 2025 by telescoper

Alegoría del Invierno (Allegory of Winter) by Remedios Varo Uranga, 1948, gouache on paper, 44 ×44 cm, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain.

Leave a comment »

Art in Bruges

Posted in Art, Film with tags , , , , , on December 19, 2025 by telescoper

For various reasons I find myself thinking about this little clip from the 2016 film In Bruges, starring Brendan Gleason and Colin Farrell. It’s set in the Groeningemuseum in the city of Bruges.

You can read an interesting post about the art in the film here.

You will see that the only painting that Ray (Colin Farrell) likes is a triptych called The Last Judgment, a version of which coincidentally featured in my post on Monday. The one I posted was by Hieronymous Bosch and is in Vienna; the one in Bruges is of doubtful attribution. It may be by Bosch, but experts think it is more likely to be by members of his workshop.

P.S. If you like black comedies then In Bruges is definitely for you! I wouldn’t say it was really a Christmas movie though…

1 Comment »

The Last Judgment

Posted in Art, Maynooth with tags , , , , on December 15, 2025 by telescoper

Walking home through Maynooth this evening, the streets filled with partying students, I was reminded of this:

It’s the central part of the triptych Das letzte Gericht (The Last Judgment) by  Hieronymus Bosch. The medium is oil on oak panel and it measures 164 x 127 cm. The original work is in the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.

The figures at the top, looking down on the chaos, are clearly identifiable as members of academic staff, while those below are students. I’m sure that if Christmas jumpers had been invented in 1486, when the work is thought to have been completed, Bosch would have painted a few in…

1 Comment »

Around the Circle – Wassily Kandinsky

Posted in Art with tags , , on December 10, 2025 by telescoper

by Wassily Kandinsky (1940; oil and enamel on canvas. 96.8 x 146 cm Guggenheim, New York)

1 Comment »

« Older Entries